Lost, Missed, and Broken by Me
by Nozomi Stone
Summary: (Alert: Major PearlShipping) Dawn Berlitz is an orphan and is used to breaking the law. She lives life on the road, alone, until she meets Ash Ketchum. Together they must take down the Shadow Gang, a group that wants Dawn dead, sell Ash's invention, pursue their dreams of being Pokemon trainers, and conquer their past, before it conquers them. Review please! Updates every Saturday.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1:** **Thieves, Death, and a Beautiful Sky**

Dawn smiled a sly smile. She had been doing this for a while, so she was pretty good. She grabbed a cart, and walked around as if purchasing things. She picked up an apple, examined it, and dropped it into her shopping basket. She didn't care whether it was bruised or not. She had been traveling in-between Vern City and Opal Town for a while now, and hadn't had a decent meal for a whole day.

She wished she could just grab handfuls of stuff, and run out, make it quick, and not waste precious time "buying", but she knew she would get caught if she did.

Dawn sighed, and moved on to the canned foods section. She debated about whether she still had he can opener, after the time she had been hiding in a warehouse, got locked in, and used it to break her way out.

_What kind of a life did I choose to live?_ Dawn thought. _What sort of-oh, that's right, IT WASN'T MY FAULT!_

She felt like crying, but held her tears in. She knew that crying gets you nowhere. Sure, she had used it to get out of going when she had stolen from the corner store, but she never had cried out of emotion.

'Whatever.", she muttered. She stuck a can of peas in, got a can opener, and moved on.

After a while, she was just about finished, ducked behind a wide endcap, and stuffed the can of green beans, the can opener, an apple, two cucumbers, a bottle of water, and vanilla cookies in her plastic shopping bag.

She noticed someone walking her way, and jumped into the box of watermelon on the endcap. A raven-haired boy with a red hat came and leaned way into the shelf. She thought he was nutso, but he pulled out a strip of wires, his face turned as red as a tomato, and he stalked off towards the manager's room.

_What was that all about?_ Dawn thought, but shook it off. She had to get out of the store, and fast, because if management came out, she was caught.

She quickly and as casually as possibly walked out of the store. She noticed they had these big grey tower thingies by the door, but only realized they were for security purposes too late, and an alarm sounded. Everyone turned to look at her, and she ran out of the store as fast as possible.

She almost got hit by a car on the way out, and scraped her left leg because of it. She began to limp, but it didn't affect her speed. She cut through an alleyway, but the store workers were fast behind her. She ran until the busy town turned into small, quaint houses, that then turned into desert. She ran until she met a cliff.

She skidded to a halt, and looked behind her. The workers were still chasing her, and there seemed no other option. She took a step closer, and peered over the cliff. She didn't want to have to jump, but she could at least slide or climb down. She leaned a little father until she heard a strange sound behind her. Before she turned around, someone pushed her, and she fell off the cliff.

* * *

On the way down, she did serious life contemplating. She asked herself these dumb questions, but most of all, she thought to herself, _It must be nice not to worry anymore. I don't have to worry at all, I wouldn't, I'd be free, freed by death._

She saw the ground getting closer, and said a little prayer that it would be painless. She screamed into the air, "I'm _NOT AFRAID! I'M NOT AFRAID ANYMORE, NOT OF DEATH, NOT OF MY LIFE NOW, NOT OF ANYTHING!"_

She took a deep breath, and prepared herself for the impact. All of a sudden, a hand reached out and grabbed her skirt. She was lunged into a ledge on the side of the cliff, and fell onto the ground, hitting her head in the process.

Dawn was dazed for a little while, but flew onto her feet the minute she saw a figure looming over her.

It was the boy from the grocery store! "Hi," he said, and smiled. "I'm Ash Ketchum."

She backed away from him. "What do you want?" she said, in the most intimidating way possible.

"Oh, nothing, I- wait, where are you going?" he began, but stopped when he noticed she began to grab her things.

She looked around for her coat. "Where's my coat?! Did you take it?!" she snapped.

"No, I think you lost it in the fall, or whatever you were doing before that. What was it you were doing?"

"Why should I answer that?"

"Look, it's okay, I'm fine, I'm a good person, I'm trustworthy, you have to understand. Um, where do you live? We should get to your house, it's getting dark now, and your parents will probably be worried."

"WHAT IS IT YOUR BUSINESS, YOU CREEP! I'm sorry, but why do you want to know?"

"Well, you should get, home, it's just-"

"I DON'T HAVE ONE! I DON'T HAVE ONE, OKAY? NOW THAT WE'VE GOTTEN THAT OVER WITH, YOU CAN ASK ME A MILLION OTHER PERSONAL QUESTIONS! DO YOU HAVE PARENTS?! DO YOU HAVE MONEY?! DO YOU HAVE A POKÉMON? HUH? ARE YOU CLEAN? ARE YOU HAPPY? ARE YOU WELL-FED?! JUST TREAT ME LIKE A DOG, like a little, little dog... that's better than what I am, a better existence... I SHOULD BE HAPPY, LIVING LIKE A DOG, a POOR LITTLE DOG, it's better, b-e-t-t-e-r!"

She began to cry, just one tear, but wiped it away. It was a sign of weakness. And she couldn't be weak now. Not now, not ever.

"Look, I don't have a family either. I don't have a house, this is my home." he gestured all around him. "I have a bed and everything, and I keep my Pokéballs there, too. There's a little stove-thing in the corner, and I keep my food around there. If you want, we can go outside on the ledge; the stars are beautiful around this time."

"Fine, but make it quick, I have places to be, things to do."

"Here, follow me, you have to know your way around these places. Are you a good climber?"

"Yeah."

"Good. Here, let's make a right, I'm still clearing the path around the left. It's amazing that there are ledges here, I don't think this is a normal cliff. It's special, the weirdest thing is that there's water running in certain places. I'm starting to think it's more of a moun-"

He stopped when he noticed when she wasn't listening, but smiled. She was staring at the stars. The sky was a beautiful, deep deep blue, and the stars twinkled perfectly.

"Oh, and by the way," he asked. "What's your name?"

"I'm Dawn," she whispered. "Dawn Berlitz."


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2-****Runaways, Freaky Diaries, and the Long Way Home****  
**

"Anyway, we should get inside. I don't have an extra bed, but you can take mine, if you want."

"You're being unusually kind."

He grinned. "I'm always like this, duh? Haven't you ever met a person like me?"

Ash meant it as a sarcastic remark, but she took it seriously. "No."

"Well, anyway, I guess it's a first," he said, as he tried to keep his smile from faltering. He knew what she had been through. It had never been as worse for him, but he knew how sick life could be. "Do you want my bed? You look tired, and I'll be fine."

"Nah, I don't think I can sleep, it's harder for me, I'll just sit on the ledge and try not to fall and die again." she mustered a smile. "Besides, after saving my life, you should get the bed."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes!" Dawn said, and made her way to the front of the ledge. She looked down, and her eyes widened. It was so far away, if she had fallen, she would have died. She couldn't die now, she had something to do.

She looked towards her right. The path was cleared, and no matter how much she wanted to explore, she had to repay Ash for saving her life. She turned towards the left, and made her way towards the uncleared path. She kicked against the stones that blocked her path, and made her way up the pile of stones.

She began to clear the path, throwing the boudlers off the mountainside. All of a sudden, she slipped, and began to fall off of the cliff again.

She fell five feet down ad hit the path. Looking around her, she realized the pathway had lengthened. She frowned, and her face flushed with anger as she realized he had been hiding something from her.

Before going back to the ledge, she tried to jump from the cliff again. The pathway widened, and she fell back onto it.

She ran down the cliffside, and tiptoed to Ash's bed. As frighteningly as she could, she shook him and yelled, "Wake _up!" _

"WHAT, what?!"

She took a step back before asking, "What the hell is with this cliff? Are you hiding something? I fell off of the rock pile you were clearing and the path just OPENED UP!"

She picked him up, and pinned him against the wall. "Explain. Now."

"Well, I hoped that you'd leave the cliff before you realized what was wrong with it. That was the whole reason I didn't want you to clear the rock pile! If you survive making it onto this mountain, then it's the one place you can't die. You're immortal here. No-"

"What?!"

"Just listen. People get very vain about being immortal here. They don't want to leave. I found boxes and boxes of diaries, and the entries were written for 153 years! The person talked about how they didn't want to leave, but then they got annoyed about being treated like a kid, so I guess he left. I don't know what happened to him. That's why I'd hoped you'd leave before I told you. Whatever."

He checked his watch. "It's 2:03. I'm going to…just…"

Ash conked out, and she set him on the bed. She wanted to punch him, but she needed him for more information, and besides, it wasn't that nice of a thing to do.

Dawn's eyes widened. _Since when did _I _care about what was nice and what wasn't?!_

"I'm getting soft," she muttered. "I'm leaving. I can't do this. I can't make a friend. I can't have a home. Maybe it's just not for me."

She took some of his food, a Pokéball in case she got in trouble, and put it in her backpack. She took a blanket as well, and began to walk out.

On her way out, she glanced back at Ash. "Thank you." she whispered, and ran away from his 'home' as fast as she could.

As she traveled up the mountain, she realized she could do just about anything. She jumped onto the wall, and ran straight up the mountain, jumping over ledges and could levitate a little and move around when she encountered a tree. A horizontal tree.

_Woah, _she thought. _This is getting _weird_._

She traveled for a few hours, but she still wasn't getting anywhere. She could see the tip of the cliff in the distance, but it seemed to move with her. When she moved forward, it moved forward, when she moved back, it moved back with her.

"Shoot," she sighed. "I should turn back, and I guess I'll have to go and ask Ash how to leave."

She turned back, but she couldn't see anything. It was all a thicket of fog. She ran through it, and half an hour later, she had made no progress. Was she traveling in circles?

Her legs gave out, and she sat on the floor. She felt as if the fog was choking her throat, and her breathing became shallow. She looked around, and began to cry.

"_GOD!"_ she screamed. "_FOR ALL I'VE BEEN THROUGH, YOU DO THIS TO ME?!"_

She had heard about these types of stories. The people get lost, they wander for days, and to finish it off, they go crazy.

And why in the world was she _crying? _She had been through much, much worse than this, and she had never CRIED!

Right, she had been through much worse than this. She had always found a loophole, found a way out of everything. She needed to find a-

"Excuse me, dear?" a raspy voice whispered through her ear.

Her throat constricted. She didn't want to look around, but she had to, she had to, she-

A hand clamped onto her shoulder, and she shot up, spun around, and yelled, "YES?!"

She wished she hadn't. The figure above her was almost a corpse, except for the fact that it was moving. It was dressed with rags, and smelled a - a hundred- a hundred- one hundred and fifty-three years old!

"The diaries!"

The corpse-thing didn't seem to hear her. It kept trying to catch her eyes, but she couldn't bring herself to look at it. It leaned it her face, but she closed her eyes, and asked, "How old are you?"

It's breath smelled like rotting _organs._ She tried not to pass out as it said, "Three hundred eighty-eight. What does it matter, my dear?"

"Are you lost?" she asked.

"No, but are you?" it tried to pin her to the ground, but she fought against it. It was her height, so she was able to kick it away.

"How old are you, really?"

"Three hundred eighty-eight. What does it matter, my dear?"

"How. Old. Are. You."

"Three hundred-thirteen. I'm thirteen. No, I'm three hundred-thirteen. NO! I AM THREE HUNDRED EIGHTY-EIGHT! I AM THIRTEEN! I am thirteen. I am-NO! I AM-"

It had not realized that Dawn had taken out her water bottle, and it wailed as she threw water on it.

She picked up her backpack, and ran. No matter how far she ran, she could still hear it's wailing, and kept her head turned in it's direction and-

"Ow!" She tumbled onto Ash, and started laughing hysterically. "Where-where WERE you?! I can't even begin-"

"Where were _you?_ I mean, you find out that this place is magical, and then you go prancing off into the unknown! I mean, seriously, you could have gotten hurt, or even killed! Don't do that ever again, I can't deal with losing someone, especially a friend like you!"

They stared at each other for a few minutes, then realized that they were in a awkward/romantic position. They jumped away from each other, and Dawn blushed.

_Why am I blushing? _Dawn sighed. "Can you find your way home?"

"Yup, it was hard at first, but once the mountain gets to know you, you'll have no problem getting back. We're actually, like, twenty feet away."

"What? Really? Well, we should get back."

"Yeah…"

"Yeah…"

They gathered their things, and made their way home (while walking several, unromantic feet away from each other).


End file.
